


The Company Man

by sidana



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 14:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16477463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidana/pseuds/sidana
Summary: Or an hour in the life of a couple of wererats





	The Company Man

Disclaimer: Not my world, not my characters, I'll put them back when I'm done playing with them.

*****************************

Lisandro let himself give a sigh of relief as he ducked into the door labeled 'Authorized Security Personnel Only'. He was done with his shift, and nothing had gone haywire for a change. There hadn't even been any lost children up on the Circus level, and they had been averaging about three of those on a typical Saturday night show.

But still he was tired enough that he didn't feel right trying to drive at the moment. Not long after they had been invited to run security, the rats had improvised a kitchenette in what they called the break room. He walked past the fridge, and eyed the assortment of small appliances sitting on an adjacent counter. The coffee maker was off and the pot was almost empty, leaving not really enough black liquid to try to warm up in a mug in the microwave. And the machine was slow enough that he didn't want to mess around with trying to make a new pot before going home.

If only they had a proper stove down here, he could have gone the tea kettle and french press route fast enough to justify the effort. But consensus was that if they did put an electric stove down here, everyone with a pulse would keep banging into their space to use it. They kept the door unlocked, and it was bad enough that Jason tended to come in there to burn his microwave popcorn.

"Catch a nap before heading home?" Fredo asked as he followed Lisandro into the room. He paused in front of a circle of chairs and couches, carefully stretching out his arms and shoulders after too many hours spent standing still in one place.

"Better for me than the coffee would have been," Lisandro said, as he began to walk toward a partitioned off corner of the room. The break room was big enough that they used for a half dozen different activities including sleep when need be. The beds were separated from the main part of the room by a mix of decorative screens different members of the rodere had brought back as souvenirs from assignments around the world.

He cut between screens from Morocco and Japan to the sleeping area. Fredo was already there messing with an alarm clock set on a small bedside table.

"How long you got?" Fredo asked.

"Give it half an hour. I promised she who must be obeyed that I'd be home in time to take her out to brunch," he replied.

"Half hour it is then," Fredo said as Lisandro started to pull his shirt off. He left his pants on. It wasn't for any sort of modesty reason, but habit because the Circus had the alarming tendency to go to DEFCON One with no notice, and there was nothing worse than suddenly trying to get somewhere at a dead run while you were still trying to get your foot down your other pant leg. And he wasn't the only cautious one. Fredo had lost the shirt, but the knives in the arm sheaths were still definitely in place.

"You catching a couple?" a familiar female voice asked as she walked into the break room.

"Yeah, half an hour," Lisandro said.

"Mind if I join you? It'll give me just enough time to nuke something to eat in my glorious hour before I start part two of the double shift."

"You know you're always welcome, Claudia," Fredo said. They all followed the same set of rules when it came to taking care of yourself at work. When the opportunity came up, you ate when you could, slept when you could, and pissed when you could because there was not a guarantee you would get a chance to do any of those things in the near future.

They claimed a king-sized bed in the corner. As usual, Claudia almost had to curl up in a ball around the guys in order to keep her feet from dangling over the foot of the bed. Lisandro had lucked out and gotten the middle spot, so he relished the warmth he got from putting his arms around Fredo and in turn being embraced by Claudia. Moments like this, and he almost envied the strippers. They could get away with a hug or an extended touch while they were working. That same kind of contact was too often seen as unprofessional if you were the security muscle.

Sleep claimed him quickly, and before he knew it, the alarm was going off in the corner. Claudia grumbled as she shuffled to the fridge to reheat some Thai take-out that was still almost edible, and Lisandro and Fredo walked to another corner of the break room that served as a changing area. Lisandro yawned as he stretched his back out, tossing his black shirt into a laundry hamper in the process. Circus laundry was good about making sure they had a steady supply of uniform shirts at all times. He tried not to do anything that would make their job harder.

He spun the combination lock on his locker, and opened it up, first pulling out a blue button down shirt and putting it on. He finished fussing with the buttons and tucking, then reached back into the locker for the rest. The wedding ring always went back on with a smile. Any day when he got to go home and see her at the end was a beautiful day. It was followed by wallet and keys.

"See you tomorrow night?" Fredo asked as he started to walk toward the door.

"Nope, got the night off," he said. He had put in his own share of overtime lately, and was finally getting a bit of a break in return.

"Lucky bastard," Claudia said as she went about filling the coffee pot from a jug of water in the fridge.

As he glanced down at his hands and saw the ring on his finger, he found himself thinking that he really was a lucky bastard. How many guys got to go home to someone so special after all?


End file.
